This invention relates to a connector for establishing an electrical connection between male contacts and female contacts, and in particular to a connector having a molded connector housing which receives contact terminals which serve as female contacts.
In the connector as mentioned above, the contact terminals are inserted into and held in place in corresponding insertion holes which are formed in the connector housing. It is therefore necessary to provide means for retaining the contact terminals in the corresponding insertion holes so as to prevent the contact terminals from coming out from the insertion holes.
There is known a connector having a connector housing which is provided with stepped portions located in the insertion holes, so that elastic projections (lances) formed on the contact terminals are engaged by the stepped portions so as to prevent the contact terminals from coming out of the corresponding insertion holes. However, in this type of a connector, there is a strong possibility that the lances may be broken or deformed during the operation of the connector, resulting in the separation of the contact terminals from the corresponding insertion holes while the connector is in use.
In order to solve the problem of the lances being broken or deformed during the operation of the connector, there has been proposed a connector housing which is itself provided with abutment members, in place of the lances provided on the contact terminals, so that the abutment members engage corresponding recesses which are formed in the contact terminals. However, in the connector hitherto known, since contact areas between the abutment projections of the connector housing and the corresponding contact terminals are small, the abutment projections can be easily broken when the corresponding contact terminals are subjected to a large drawing force. In particular, when the connector is a multi-contact connector type, breakage of only one abutment member requires replacement of the connector by a new one.